Please lets remember to include a description of what the piece is about, why we are posting it etc. For example, this blog post takes on common one liner arguments such as "Chickenhawks" "Blood for Oil" "Bush is an idiot" etc.

Above is one of the best writers in the "blogosphere" who rarely posts, but when he does it's well worth the wait. In his current post he demolishes current soundbite sloganeering which is utterly false but commonly believed.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life. -- Teddy Roosevelt

As I write this, the Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives and look likely to eke out control of the Senate.

My friends, this is time to make a choice. We have suffered a very large defeat tonight, and there is nothing now that we can do about that except decide on how we wish to face it. We have been given an opportunity to show what losing with honor should look like. Do not wail and cry. Do not shout CHEATERS! or whine about media coverage. And most especially do not blame the American people. They are not idiots and they are not sheep. Iraq is not lost, the War on Terror goes on and despite what you may be feeling right now, there will not be any US helicopters evacuating stragglers off the roof of the US embassy in Baghdad... not tomorrow or any other day. That war was won on a November night two years ago. Trust me on this one, if you can, and if you cannot then at least do not despair. Maybe now we will realize that selling this war is as important as fighting it. In that regard I've been AWOL and I am ashamed.

We have to accept the fact that the conservatives we sent to Congress in 1994 became the bloated, earmarking, tone-deaf toads of 2006. They thought they could do whatever they wanted, regardless of what their constituents think, and now they have been reminded of just who is working for whom. Remedying that sense of isolation and disconnect and unchecked power is why we have elections in the first place, and as to the consequences of it, we have no one to blame but ourselves. That imperial attitude is not unique to Republicans or Democrats. That is human nature, and correcting the excesses of human nature only becomes more costly and painful the longer it is allowed to go on. Democracy is error-correcting. Ask John Kerry.

I voted straight down the Republican ticket tonight. I am not happy about this, but I'm determined to take it like a man and use this occasion to let the opposition see what it looks like to lose with honor and grace. That they have needed a lesson in this goes without saying, and a lot of us mean to see that they will need additional instruction along these very lines in the near future. But right now that is bluster; a check folded and stuffed in a shirt pocket for cashing at our leisure. This is their night.

The Congress that the Republicans lost they lost because they abandoned the ideals that elected them in the first place. We must learn from our mistakes. We will have two years to do so.

Remember one thing before you go. The most important election we are ever likely to see in our lives was not this evening's election. Bush's re-election in 2004 was the one we HAD to have, and we got it. Be grateful for that, acknowledge that this loss is no one's fault but our own, congratulate the Democrats on their impressive wins and start figuring out how we can make sure this never EVER happens again. =)

I wish to tell my friends to be cheerful and especially to be of good will. Disappointments come and go, but moments of courage and integrity in dark hours will be there when the stars grow cold. We have lost the election, so let us maintain our determination, our dignity and our sense of humor, and let us take this moment to reflect upon how our actions have fallen short of our ideals. And then, finally, let's act like the Americans we are, roll up our sleeves and start rebuilding. We who have survived Civil War, the Nazis and the Communists can probably manage to find a way to preserve the Republic in the face of Speaker Pelosi.

America is not only much, much stronger than you imagine; it is stronger than you CAN imagine.

To those who have written me in anger over the years, I say sincere congratulations to you on a big win, and I genuinely hope it will remove some of the bitterness in your hearts and restore some belief in a system that was never broken.

As for me, I pledge to re-enter the fight with more energy, not less, and to continue to try to make the case I think needs to be made. I'll start on that tomorrow.

"Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities." -- Winston Churchill

Welcome to the process of exhausting all other possibilities. This is where we separate the men from the boys. Pick a line and stand in it.

The Congress that the Republicans lost they lost because they abandoned the ideals that elected them in the first place.

On the contrary, I think a lot of people saw what happens when the people with these "ideals" are put in charge: an unnecessary war, blatant corruption, a city left to drown, and a bunch of sex scandals from the people who preach morality and righteousness.

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Remember one thing before you go. The most important election we are ever likely to see in our lives was not this evening's election. Bush's re-election in 2004 was the one we HAD to have, and we got it. Be grateful for that, acknowledge that this loss is no one's fault but our own, congratulate the Democrats on their impressive wins and start figuring out how we can make sure this never EVER happens again. =)

Scrap democracy altogether and declare a presidential dictatorship next time a Republican is elected.

The activists who preach loudest against the so-called evils of modern democracies should be exposed.

In these secular times, celebrity-styled and self-appointed moral guardians have long replaced church leaders as the average person's guide to the higher moral ground. Al Gore and his message on climate change is but the latest.

In Australia to promote his film An Inconvenient Truth, Gore was given extremely soft interviews by Kerry O'Brien on The 7.30 Report, Andrew Denton on Enough Rope and Fran Kelly on Radio National.

The problem for moral guardians is that often they take the high moral ground while simultaneously dealing in much of what they condemn. It's called double standards. And right now the world of commentary is full of them.

In his film, to be released in Australia tomorrow, the former US vice-president lectures at length on the need for all of us to change our lifestyles to save the planet.

We are sitting on a time bomb, he tells us, a planet heating to such an extent we have just 10 years before the apocalypse. We have a choice he says - "to bring our carbon emissions to zero". We must use renewable energy and clothes lines, drive hybrid cars and cut back on consumption.

But a zero carbon emission is not a choice Gore has personally made. He owns three homes, one of which is a 930 sq m, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville and another a 370 sq m house in Arlington, Virginia.

In spite of readily available green energy, in both Nashville and the Washington DC area, writer Peter Schweizer (USA Today, August has revealed "there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy".

Gore usually travels to promote his film in a private jet.

Governments and citizens around the world must heed the message that carbon emissions need to be reduced and that the earth is warming to levels that cause concern. No doubt in that. But the hype of Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and his own performances in its support have given him guru status. Surely the least a guru can do is lead by example.

The hypocrisy industry is alive and well in secular democracies. Decades of campaigns from animal rights protests to anti-war marches have offered some notable Americans not only celebrity status but even comfortable incomes. This is the lucrative humbug Schweizer exposes in Do As I Say (Not As I Do) - Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.

Take Michael Moore, documentary film-maker and guru of anti-Americanism and fashionable leftist causes. His hallmark characteristic is hero of the little man against the big corporations. He talks often of growing up in the working-class, wrong-side-of-the-tracks rust belt of Flint, Michigan. Flint has become a trademark for Moore - on his email address and website. In fact, Moore grew up in nearby Davison, the son of a middle-class General Motors worker who owned the family home, drove two cars and played golf after work in the afternoons.

Moore has a penthouse in New York and an extensive property on Torch Lake, Michigan, made of 70-year-old Michigan red pine trees. In spite of his so-called green credentials, he was recently cited by local authorities for despoiling a wetland in an attempt to extend his private beach.

Moore's image exudes the ordinary guy, the man who can hack it rough with no interest in consuming goods. He derides the elite for their excess and need for luxury. This is the same man who couldn't drink Poland Spring when backstage and had to have a ready supply of Evian. The same man who demanded he travel the country in a private jet and a fleet of four-wheel drives for his most recent book tour.

The hypocrisy industry has caught a number off guard in the fashionable global warming pronouncements.

Barbra Streisand took neighbour and photographer Wendell Wall to court after he took shots of her at a car dealership looking at four-wheel drives, a clear contradiction of her plea a few months before for Americans to get serious about reducing fuel emissions.

She had him arrested, pressed charges that led to bail being upped to $1 million so that he was held for three days. When the matter came to court, Wall was recognised to have been doing nothing offensive and he sued the sheriff's department for violation of his civil liberties, which was settled out of court.

Schweizer's study of the rich and hypocritical is full of such stories - of how those who preach loudest against the so-called evils of modern democracies have the biggest skeletons in their closets.

Legislators such as Democrat congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, one of the wealthiest on Capitol Hill, an anti-nuclear and environmental campaigner who owns and invests in property where environmental regulations are ignored.

Teddy Kennedy, whom Schweizer calls the king of liberal hypocrites, is fulsome in his appeals for greener choices. Yet the Kennedys, led by Ted, continue to oppose a wind project off Hyannis where they sail, even though the project is way out to sea.

And as Ted preaches against oil companies, the Kennedys have invested in oil in Texas for decades, and even own the drilling rights on land that is not theirs.

Let's save the planet by all means - but let's not be fooled by those who preach loudest but do not practise what they preach.

How the Grinch Stole Michael Moore By Peter SchweizerFrontPageMagazine.com | December 13, 2005

Peter Schweizer's new book, Do As I Say (Not As I Do), is available from the FrontPage Magazine Bookstore for only $18.95.

In a recent speech broadcast on C-SPAN, Michael Moore complains that a "crazy person" (that would be me) has been spreading lies about him, including the story that he owns stock in a number of evil vicious multinational corporations, including Halliburton. "Michael Moore own Halliburton stock?" the anti-corporate activist told his supporters at the Paul Wellstone Memorial Dinner. "See, that's like a great comedy line. I know it's not true - I mean, I've never owned a share of stock in my life." He went on: "Anybody who knows me knows that, you know - who's gonna believe that? Just crazy people are going to believe it - crazy people who tune-in to the Fox News Channel." (Looks like this crazy person is in good company.)

On the back cover of my book, I include part of Michael Moore?s 990PF that he files with the IRS for a tax shelter he and his wife set up and control. The form clearly shows that Moore bought and sold shares in Halliburton and a number of other vicious, evil corporations. Look through the tax forms from 1998 to the present, and you will find more of the same.

How is it possible for Michael Moore to say he doesn?t own any stock while his tax forms say otherwise? Since Michael Moore simply never lies, this must be a case of identity theft.

Here is what must have happened. Someone set up a tax shelter and registered it at Michael Moore?s home address in Michigan. The thief transferred money from Moore?s accounts into this private foundation and then hired an investment broker to pour the money into corporate stock and bonds. The thief must have practiced forging Michael Moore?s name because the signature on the tax form is a perfect match. To make matters worse, the thief must look exactly like Michael Moore because the only other person involved with the tax shelter is his wife, Kathleen Glynn, and she never noticed anything going wrong. (The private foundation has no staff or other trustees.)

So who is behind this nefarious plot? My first guess is Dick Cheney. Think about it, Cheney has a lot of experience with this covert operations. And a look at the stocks in portfolio includes plenty from the military-industrial complex and oil industry, who are of course all of Cheney?s best friends. When the Halliburton stock in question was first purchased, Cheney was CEO. What better way to boost the stock price than use Michael Moore?s money?

But at second glance, this sort of operation is too soft for Cheney. If he wanted to get Mike, a dirty ops campaign like this would be too mild. Wouldn?t he just trump up charges and invade Michigan?

That brings us to another possibility: Karl Rove. Whenever anything goes wrong on the Left (remember those fake Bush National Guard papers?), Mike thinks Rove is behind it. He has to be behind this, too, right?

All joking aside, Michael Moore is following a tactic that too many of the liberal-leftist elite use to avoid any sort of accountability. Think about it: when was the last time you heard a leader of the Left apologize for anything? Too many seem to embrace the Stalinist precept that they cannot make mistakes.

The real question facing the Left?s rank-and-file when it comes to the hypocrites I highlight in my book is this: are you going to stand by your principles or your heroes? If you truly believe what you claim, you shouldn?t tolerate this kind of hypocrisy on the part of your leaders.

Conservative leaders who have fallen short publicly apologize, take responsibility for their actions, and work on changing. Leaders on the Left simply are not held into account in the same manner. The media give them a free pass and rank-and-file leftists do not want to question them. Being a leader on the Left means never having to say you are sorry. It?s time for that to change.

So I ask those on the liberal-Left: Who are you going to believe, Michael Moore or his tax returns?

In the most bizarre twist of a surreal campaign, Republicans could lose control of the House of Representatives due in part to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley?s salacious e-mails to under-aged pages.

If that happens, the beneficiary will be the party that has uncritically embraced the gay-rights movement ? which in turn embraces other things.

Speaking of double standards:

In 1983, Massachusetts Congressman Gerry Studds was found to have had sexual relations with a 16-year-old male page (No mere cyber-stalking for the Bay State perv.) He was censured by the House, then repeatedly reelected by his ethically-challenged constituents, with the blessings of the Democratic Party.

In 1989, Barney Frank admitted to shacking up with a male prostitute, who he met through a personal ad in The Washington Blade (?hot bottom plus large endowment equals good time.?) Senor Large Endowment ran a prostitution ring out of the congressman?s D.C. condo. Frank was censured, then re-elected, with Democratic support. Today, he?s one of his party?s senior statesmen.

Bill Clinton copulated orally with intern Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office. Granted, Monica was an adult (chronologically, at least). But isn?t this about men in a position (you should pardon the expression) of authority exploiting young people in their charge?

And still the party of It?s-Only-About-Sex is trying to drive House Speaker Dennis Hastert from office. (?What did he know, and when did he know it?? they sputter, repeating their favorite Watergate refrain.) They intend to ride the issue like Seattle Slew ? from here to November 7th. North Korean nukes, atomic Iran, worldwide jihad? Nada compared to erotic e-mails.

Now ? at long last ? the Democrats have their very own values issue, in the person of a pro-abortion, anti-traditional marriage (he voted against the federal marriage amendment) ?Republican,? who slunk around in dark cyber alleys.

So, what exactly is the great lesson Democrats want us to learn from the Foley scandal?

Don?t talk dirty to kids?

But their Hollywood friends do it all the time. Besides, what is sex education ? pushed by their friends in the teachers? unions ? if not talking dirty to kids?

Adults shouldn?t come on to adolescents?

But their allies in the gay rights movement want to lower or abolish age-of-consent laws.

Men shouldn?t be in a position where they can proposition teens?

But Democrats booed a Boy Scout color guard at their 2000 convention, because the Scouts said no to sending boys off into the woods with gay scoutmasters ? which makes about as much sense as letting Bill Clinton sleep in a pup tent with cheerleaders.

We should support parents trying to protect teens from sexual predators?

But a Democratic filibuster in the Senate killed the Child Custody Protection Act, which would have made it a federal crime to take a minor across state lines for an abortion, thereby avoiding a parental-notification law in their home state. You think those 15-year-olds going out-of-state for abortions are impregnated by other 15-year-olds? In most cases, teen pregnancy results from statutory rape.

I guess the point the Hastert lynch mob is trying to make is this: The day of reckoning dawns only for Republicans.

Gay rights has become as much a part of Democratic orthodoxy as abortion-on-demand, racial quotas, driver? licenses for illegal immigrants, and a blind faith in the power of negotiations to keep Kim Jong Il from developing nuclear weapons.

The Democrats are into mainstreaming the Gay Lobby. And many members of the Gay Lobby are into sex with youth.

? Heterosexual molesters at least have the good taste not to organize and lobby for their sickness. There is a North American Man-Boy Love Association (whose motto is ?sex before eight or it?s too late?). There is no North American Man-Girl Love Association. NAMBLA often participates in gay-pride parades.

? Paeans to ?intergenerational sex? permeate gay literature, from the poems of Alan Ginsberg to the play ?The Vagina Monologues.? In one charming vignette in Eve Ensler?s play, a 13-year-old girl is plied with alcohol and seduced by a 24-year-old woman. The act is justified by the child?s declaration: ?If it was rape, it was a good rape.? Following a protest, the girl?s age was changed to 16 (still younger than those Foley stalked) and the ?good-rape? line deleted.

? The 1972 platform of the National Coalition of Gay Organizations included a demand for ?repeal of all laws governing the age of sexual consent.?

? In 2004, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force joined with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (an out-of-the-closet, sex-with-kids group) to focus first on studying America?s ?archaic? sex laws, as a prelude to overturning them.

? In ?The Gay Report,? prepared by two gay researchers, 73 percent of homosexuals surveyed reported having had sex with boys, aged 16 to 19, and in some cases younger.

? According to a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 81 percent of priestly sex-abuse victims were boys and adolescent males. In coverage of the scandal, the media resolutely ignored this reality by referring to the perps as ?pedophile priests,? instead of homosexual pedophile priests.

? Male homosexuals represent roughly 2.5 percent of the population, yet account for over one-third of adults who prey sexually on children. In other words, a gay male is 13 times as likely to be a sexual predator as a heterosexual male.

?We?re outraged by middle-aged men in trench coats cyber-flashing teens!? the Party of Feigned Morality declares. But if the explicit exchanges are spoken, written, or taught in the sacred name of AIDS education or tolerance training, the acts rise from the sordid to the sublime.

Consider instruction given to children as young as 12 at a March 2000 conference sponsored by ? now get this ? the Massachusetts Department of Education. (At least Foley wasn?t paid to come on to kids.)

Designated a statewide ?Teach-Out,? one well-attended session was titled, ?What They Didn?t Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health Class.? Here children were instructed in such good-sex practices as the placing of hands in various body cavities.

The conference was secretly taped. Here?s one exchange that took place between a student and an instructor:

Educator: ?What orifices are we talking about??

(Student hesitates)

Educator: ?Don?t be shy, honey; you can do it.?

Student: ?Your mouth.?

Educator: ?Okay.?

Student: ?Your ass.?

Educator: ?There you go.?

Student: ?Your pussy. That kind of place.?

Comparing Foley?s instant messages (?What are you wearing?? ?Don?t forget to measure for me.?) to this smut is like comparing Flopsey, Mopsey, and Cottontail to The Illustrated Marquis de Sade.

So the newly minted Party of Virtue, the Legion of Decency reborn, insists that Hastert must go and Republicans must lose control of the House because ? unbeknownst to them ? a pathetic little perv from the Sunshine State sent suggestive instant messages to pages.

Will the Democrats now turn over a new page and denounce efforts to abolish age of consent laws, support the Boy Scouts of America, and push for passage of the Child Custody Protection Act?

Fat chance.

As soon as the election is over, their moral indignation over adults who come on to kids will be forgotten faster than Clinton?s campaign pledge of a middle-class tax cut or O.J. Simpson?s promise to spend the rest of his days tracking down the ?real killers? of Nicole.

A war against an enemy that's actually attacked us or poses a serious, immediate threat. Iraq does not meet either of those reuirements, and I'm not going to rehash this debate.

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As far as blatant corruption, would you like a list of democratic congress members with "issues"?

I'm no lover or defender of the Democrats and I concede that they're pretty corrupt too, but there's no comparison between what Democrats have done and what the Republicans have done during the past four years.

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A city left to drown was left that way by Ray Nagan and Kathleen Blanco, both democrats. FEMA, is at best 3rd string. More a check-writing entity than a first responder.

BS. Under Clinton, FEMA was actually a pretty professional, competent organization. At least it had somebody in charge of it with experience in managing disasters. The Bush administration can take credit for turning it into a repository for his well-connected buddies, or little more than a check-writing entity.

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No one can top the left for smug self-rightiousness.

Like Haggard or Foley? I admit the Dems have their share of scandals too, but at least they don't go around preaching "family values" and telling everybody how to live.

Former President Bill Clinton: "And They Will Be All The More Lethal If We Allow Them To Build Arsenals Of Nuclear, Chemical And Biological Weapons And The Missiles To Deliver Them. We Simply Cannot Allow That To Happen. There Is No More Clear Example Of This Threat Than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His Regime Threatens The Safety Of His People, The Stability Of His Region And The Security Of All The Rest Of Us." (President Bill Clinton, Remarks To Joint Chiefs Of Staff And Pentagon Staff, 2/17/98)

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV): "The Problem Is Not Nuclear Testing; It Is Nuclear Weapons. ... The Number Of Third World Countries With Nuclear Capabilities Seems To Grow Daily. Saddam Hussein's Near Success With Developing A Nuclear Weapon Should Be An Eye-Opener For Us All." (Sen. Harry Reid, Congressional Record, 8/3/92, p. S11188)

Former Vice President Al Gore: "f You Allow Someone Like Saddam Hussein To Get Nuclear Weapons, Ballistic Missiles, Chemical Weapons, Biological Weapons, How Many People Is He Going To Kill With Such Weapons? He's Already Demonstrated A Willingness To Use These Weapons ..." (CNN's "Larry King Live," 12/16/98)

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY): "I Voted For The Iraqi Resolution. I Consider The Prospect Of A Nuclear-Armed Saddam Hussein Who Can Threaten Not Only His Neighbors, But The Stability Of The Region And The World, A Very Serious Threat To The United States." (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Press Conference, 1/22/03)

Democrats are unsure what to do about Rep. William J. Jefferson if he remains in Congress. The Louisiana Democrat, who was stripped of his Ways and Means Committee seat by his caucus this summer, is in a tough runoff election against state Rep. Karen Carter, a Democrat who was endorsed by the Louisiana State Democratic Party. Democrats refused to speculate about Mr. Jefferson's future in the party before the Dec. 9 election. "We have to wait and see what the voters of New Orleans do," said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the presumed speaker in the 110th Congress. Mrs. Pelosi, a Californian who attacked Republicans on poor ethics and corruption, made an example of Mr. Jefferson after a federal investigation of the eight-term congressman was made public. A search warrant affidavit released in May said Mr. Jefferson had solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and discussed payoffs with African officials. It also said he was involved in numerous schemes to use his family members to hide business interests in high-tech ventures he promoted. FBI officials said they found $90,000 in the freezer at Mr. Jefferson's home during a sting operation after the Justice Department accused the congressman of taking $100,000 in bribe money from an informant. Other Capitol Hill Democrats, who did not wish to be named, said Mr. Jefferson should expect nothing from Mrs. Pelosi or other party leaders. "I don't think he has anything coming his way," one Democrat said. Regardless, Mr. Jefferson is optimistic about his chances of retaining his seat. "We will be re-elected, and we fully expect to keep our seniority," said officials in Mr. Jefferson's office. Mrs. Carter, 36, placed second in Louisiana's open primary Nov. 7, with 22 percent of the vote. Mr. Jefferson led the slate of 13 candidates, receiving 30 percent of the vote. He is expected to gain a large number of the votes cast for state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, a Democrat who came in third with 18 percent. Meanwhile, members jockeying for leadership positions on committees have largely ignored Mr. Jefferson's plight. Ten House races have not been decided because of recounts in states including Pennsylvania, Florida, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Mexico and Georgia, but Mr. Jefferson's race is the most troubling for Democrats. If he wins, he likely will be remain under a cloud of suspicion going into the 110th Congress.

Perhaps you should examine your own track record. 117 posts in a month!?!? All of them pointing out the apparent ineptitude of Democrats, the inability of Liberals to do anything of worth, and heartily brownosing anything and everything Republican, Conservative, or anti-Liberal.

I just find it hypocritical to lambast someone for using talking points when one's own posts are consistently (and voluminously) effusive and contain phrases like "No one can top the left for smug self-rightiousness (sp)."

1) So, do you want a debate or do you just want to throw out some dem "talking points" and run?

Baiting and antagonistic

MD: A bit so perhaps-- "conversation" might be a better choice than "debate" but certainly it is quite possible to respond to this one on the merits in a civil way. For example: "I would prefer a conversation. Yes? Sorry my list registered with you as talking points, actually I think them rather sound. Shall we engage on each of them one by one?"

It is the nature of these things that sometimes someone gets a tad abrasive or takes something as having a tone not intended. But in such moments, I offer what Guro Inosanto says, "Be the temperature, not the thermometer."

2) Do you feel better about this newly elected congressman?

Sardonic

MD: I don't get you at all here. A perfectly reasonable question.

Anyway, "brown-nosing" and "forum troll" are of a different order.

I hope this helps everyone get a sense of the vibration we are looking for here.